God's annual festivals, as we learned in previous lessons, began to be made known
to the congregation of ancient Israel – God's Church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38)
– when the nation was first formed in Egypt.

Let's notice God's instructions regarding the observance of the sixth annual festival
and how it pictures the coming Millennium, when the whole world will be converted
and given an opportunity for salvation.

1. Does the Feast of Tabernacles begin five days after the Day of Atonement? Lev.
23:33-34; Deut. 16:13-15.

2. Does the Feast begin with a Holy Day on which all ordinary work is forbidden, and
on which people are to gather before God? Lev. 23:35. Did God command that this
annual festival be kept forever? Verse 41.

COMMENT: The Feast of Tabernacles was also called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16;
34:22) because it celebrated the late summer-early autumn harvest (Lev. 23:39).

This harvest festival was to be a time of great rejoicing and thanksgiving for God's
abundant blessings. Today, God's Church makes known to the world that it pictures
the future ingathering of the great harvest of Spirit-begotten human beings into God's
Family during the 1,000-year period known as the Millennium.

3. Does the annual Feast of Tabernacles last for more than one day? Lev. 23:34; Deut.
16:15.

COMMENT: As we learned in previous lessons, God used the two yearly harvest seasons
in the Northern Hemisphere to picture the future spiritual harvests of mankind into
His divine Family.

The spring grain harvest is small compared to the great fall harvest. The first harvest
is represented by a single day – the Festival of Pentecost. It pictures the spiritual
firstfruits, the relatively small number of people whom God has called into His Church
before Christ's return, when they will be born into God's Family.

But the Feast of Tabernacles lasts a full seven days. This shows that God's great
second harvest of mankind will take a long period of time to be reaped. People will
be born physically, called of God and, after fulfilling their life's purpose of growing
in God's character, born spiritually into His Family all during the 1,000 years.

4. Who would decide where the Feast of Tabernacles was to be observed? Deut. 16:16.

COMMENT: Only God, working through His chosen servants, chooses the place (or places
– Ex. 20:24) where the Feast is to be observed, and only He changes the location –
as circumstances warrant.

In ancient Israel, God chose where His people were to keep the Feast. Today, God works
through the government He has placed in His Church. God leads those in charge to
select appropriate Feast sites around the world to accommodate the members of His
Church worldwide. Tens of thousands of God's people and their families travel to
these sites to observe this great Feast.

Ancient Israel Failed to Keep the Feast

Even though God revealed His festivals to the children of Israel and commanded that
these festivals be kept forever, the people soon rebelled. Many finally refused to
keep the Feast of Tabernacles on the days God ordained, eventually failing to keep
it altogether. Let's learn what happened, and what the results of their disobedience
were.

1. Where was the place that God originally set His name – designating it as the place
the Feast of Tabernacles was to be kept? Josh. 18:1. Were some of the children of
Israel obedient at that time in keeping the Feast? Judg. 21:19. And in rejoicing?
Verse 21.

2. Did the parents of Samuel, who became one of God's greatest prophets, keep this
Feast every year? I Sam. 1:3, 21; 2:19.

COMMENT: The yearly sacrifice mentioned in these verses refers to the Feast of Tabernacles.

3. Did God later change the location for the Feast of Tabernacles and, in the early
years of King Solomon, have a temple built there? I Kings 8:1-2, 10-11. Did Solomon
call the people early to the Feast to spend a week in dedicating the newly finished
Temple? Verse 65.

COMMENT: The Israelites observed the Feast of Tabernacles in the days of Solomon.
But even then, the nation did not fully observe it in the way or manner God commanded
(see Nehemiah 8:17).

4. What did wicked King Jeroboam do after he and the northern 10 tribes rebelled against
Rehoboam, Solomon's son? I Kings 12:32-33.

COMMENT: Jeroboam assumed that where and when God's Holy Days were kept didn't really
make any difference to God. His action was normal for a carnal-minded person who
knows little about who or what God really is. Jeroboam's concept of how to worship
God was merely his own human idea (verse 33).

Be sure to read the whole passage from I Kings 12:26 to the end of chapter 13. The
13th chapter reveals how God mercifully gave Jeroboam further admonition – backed
up by miracles (verses 3-4, 6) – and a further opportunity to repent.

But Jeroboam did not repent of changing the date the fall festivals were to be observed
(verse 33), and as a result he suffered a terrible penalty (verse 34).

5. Why did God finally allow the people of Israel and Judah to be militarily defeated
and then deported to foreign lands? Ezek. 20:13, 16, 19-21, 24, 34.

COMMENT: Notice that in these verses the word “sabbaths” is plural, meaning the annual
Sabbaths as well as the weekly Sabbath. The Bible usually speaks of the weekly Sabbath
in the singular.

Because of their continued disobedience – chiefly their utter disregard of God's weekly
and annual Sabbaths – the Israelites, and later the Jews, were transported into slavery.

6. Had the small remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon under the leadership of
Ezra and Nehemiah learned that God is the Lord? Neh. 8:1.

COMMENT: After 70 years of subservience to Babylon, God had become real to those few
Jews, as well as to those who remained in the lands of their captivity. They now
knew He was really God.

7. Did they immediately begin to keep God's Holy Days, including the Feast of Tabernacles?
Verses 2, 14, 17-18. And did they immediately set about learning God's laws that,
if kept, lead to peace, happiness and prosperity? Compare Nehemiah 8:18 with Deuteronomy
31:10-11.

8. Did the remnant of Jews find the Feast of Tabernacles a time of “very great gladness”?
Neh. 8:17-18.

COMMENT: The Holy Days now held vivid meaning for the few thousand Jews who returned
from captivity. Their eyes were open --symbolic of what will occur to humanity after
the Second Coming of Christ.

Jesus Kept the Feast

1. During Jesus Christ's human life, were the descendants of the Jews who returned
still keeping the Feast of Tabernacles? John 7:2.

COMMENT: The Apostle John called the celebration the “Jews' feast” because he wrote
primarily for the Gentiles. Before conversion, the Gentiles saw the feasts only as
a part of the “different” religion of the Jews. The nation Israel had lost the knowledge
of God's Holy Days, but Judah had preserved the Old Testament Scriptures and the festivals
of God and God's calendar.

2. What unmistakable command did Jesus give His brothers and sisters? Verse 8.

3. Did Jesus, Himself, keep the Feast? Verse 10. Did everyone know that Jesus always
kept God's feasts and therefore naturally expected Him to be in Jerusalem to observe
the Feast of Tabernacles? Verse 11.

COMMENT: Note that Jesus' purpose in going to Jerusalem was not merely to preach to
and instruct people. He had numerous opportunities to address the multitudes who
followed Him continually.

4. Did Jesus have every reason not to go up to Jerusalem? Verses 1 and 10.

COMMENT: Jesus had been present at the Feast from the first day, although He did not
stand up to teach until near the middle of the seven days (verse 14). He had arrived
secretly and remained out of the limelight because certain of the religious leaders
were seeking – out of jealousy – to kill Him.

5. Was Jesus merely following an Old Testament practice or was He setting a New Testament
example? Matt. 28:19-20; I Pet. 2:21; I John 2:4-6.

COMMENT: With such dangerous circumstances, if ever there was an excuse not to attend
one of God's feasts, surely this was one. But Jesus was there – boldly setting us
an example that we should do likewise.

Jesus condemned the errors in the “tradition of the elders” (Matt. 15:2-3, 6, 9).
He always made it clear that God's laws were still binding, and went on to magnify
them. Notice His words in Matthew 5:21-22: “Ye have heard… but I say.” Christ kept
every one of God's commandments, including all of God's Holy Days.

All Nations to Keep the Feast in the Millennium

1. In the Millennium, will Israelite tribes in addition to Judah keep the Feast of
Tabernacles? Hos. 12:8-9. Will all Gentile nations join them in keeping the Feast?
Zech. 14:9, 16.

COMMENT: After returning to earth in power and glory, Christ will start immediately
to reeducate the people of the world through His annual festivals. The world will
come to know that Christ is the Lord, and that God's Master Plan pictures the way
to physical blessings and spiritual salvation.

3. What will happen to those nations that at first refuse to keep the Feast of Tabernacles
and thus refuse to be reeducated to God's way, in their ignorance refusing salvation?
Verse 17.

COMMENT: Christ will at first have to rule with “a rod of iron” (Rev. 12:5), symbolizing
absolute authority, until the nations are convinced that their fathers' ways – their
“old-time religions” – do not lead to salvation.

4. What will happen if nations still refuse to obey? Verses 18-19.

COMMENT: Those with this attitude, who stubbornly refuse to obey, will suffer from
drought. If they still do not change their attitudes, plagues will afflict them until
they submit to God. There are some who think God doesn't mean they should keep His feasts today. They say: “Well, I'll keep the days God made holy
when I have to, but I won't keep them now." God allows them to refuse. But only those who obey Him now will be protected through
the time of trouble just ahead.

Time of Great Physical and Spiritual Rejoicing

1. What is the divinely set theme for the annual observance of the Feast of Tabernacles?
Deut. 16:14-15. (Notice the words surely rejoice in verse 15. Other translations, such as the Revised Standard Version, render this “be altogether joyful.”)

2. Does God intend for everyone – regardless of age, social class or economic level
– to rejoice during the Feast? Read verse 14 again. Does God intend for a husband
to take his wife and children with him to rejoice together at the Feast? Deut. 16:14;
12:5, 7, 12.

3. Does God say that good food should be eaten to increase one's joy and happiness
during the Feast? Deut. 14:26.

COMMENT: The Feast of Tabernacles is a time of great rejoicing. For ancient Israel,
it was a time of rejoicing because the abundant winter's food supply was taken in
just before the Feast.

But the Feast has far greater significance for God's Church today. It pictures –
is a foretaste of – the prosperity, happiness, joy and universal peace that will exist
worldwide under the righteous rule of Jesus Christ. Universal adherence to God's laws
and revealed way of life will make the world tomorrow a supremely happy place – a
utopia!

4. Does God command His people to save a second tithe (10th) of their income throughout
the year to be spent in traveling to and attending the Feast? Deut. 14:22-26.

COMMENT: The Feast of Tabernacles gives God's people the opportunity to live joyfully
for one week – to live above what they would normally be able to afford – that they
may experience a foretaste of the wealth the whole world will enjoy.

5. When the Holy Spirit is poured out freely during the Millennium, what will happen
to the basic attitude or nature of humans? Ezek. 36:26-27; Isa. 11:9. Will there
also be a change in the nature of animals so that all creatures will be peaceful and
harmless? Isa. 11:6-8; 65:25.

COMMENT: Once God places His Spirit within repentant mankind during the Millennium,
people will begin to express outgoing love and concern for others and will obey God.
This coming change in the very nature of humans is the chief reason why the Feast
of Tabernacles previews this time with such great rejoicing!

What Christ's Government Will Be Like

The coming government of God will not be a democracy, or any other form of human government.
In the world tomorrow Christ will rule supreme from world headquarters in Jerusalem
(Rev. 19:16; Jer. 3:17). Ruling with and under Him will be the Spirit-born saints
(Dan. 7:14, 27).

Christ will be over the saints. His position will be that of the Husband. The saints
– then immortal children of God – will constitute the Bride of Christ. They will
be in the position of a wife, subject to her Husband – Christ.

1. In the Millennium, how will Christ's supreme government be administered in all parts
of the earth? Luke 19:17, 19.

COMMENT: Christ was showing through the parable of the pounds that those who develop
their abilities will be rewarded with positions of rulership. There will be local
administrative districts – some larger, some smaller – that will be administered by
the Spirit-born children of God!

2. Does Luke 13:28 reveal the names of several faithful servants of God who will be
given high positions under Christ in the Kingdom of God? Who will rule over the modern
descendants of Jacob? Jer. 30:7-9; Ezek. 37:24-25.

COMMENT: The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and other men of God such as Joseph,
Job, Moses and David, will be brought back to life, immortal, in glorified power,
to occupy high executive positions in the new world government.

3. Will Christ have certain other chief assistants, each ruling over a major nation?
Luke 22:29-30; Matt. 19:28.

4. How will the immortal spirit rulers serve the people? Rev. 1:6; 5:10; I Cor. 6:2.

COMMENT: To help curb the possibility of tyranny, many governments in the world today
are divided into separate branches. For example, in the United States of America,
the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government are separate. Then
there is the teaching field, which, in democratic countries, is separate from (though
in most cases overseen by) the government.

In God's coming Kingdom on earth, however, these four functions will be united. The
Head of the God Family establishes the laws (the legislative function). The God Family
will enforce the laws (the executive function). It will also interpret those laws
and judge cases concerning them (the judicial function). And the God Family will
be responsible for the educational function – it will faithfully teach the people
God's law.

Each divine ruler will serve his subjects in genuine love and concern (I John 4:16),
never acting selfishly (Matt. 20:26-27).

5. How much power will each ruler exercise, under Christ, in his own area? Rev. 2:26-27.

COMMENT: Absolute and definite authority will exist on the spot in all parts of the
world. Yet all governmental policies will be based on the pattern laid down from
world headquarters by Christ Himself, and each ruler under Christ will be responsible
to Him. God's government will be perfectly organized, devoid of useless red tape
and excess-baggage bureaucracies.

6. Will this divine government be permanent? Dan. 7:14, 18.

COMMENT: No time or money will be wasted on campaigning and elections. There will
be no politicians to cater to special organized groups or classes. In the world tomorrow
God will appoint His resurrected saints as the rulers and educators, and no lobbyists
or other pressure groups will be able to corrupt them.

There will be no insurrections, no rebellions – God can't be overthrown. Satan's
failed coup proved that! Nor will any member of the God Family ever turn into another
adversary (I John 3:9). All members will have been proved in advance during their
mortal lifetime.

7. Will the Spirit-born teachers in God's Family take a personal part in bringing about
a full comprehension of God's law, and in directing people to take right action?
Isa. 30:20-21.

COMMENT: The sudden appearance of the spirit rulers, or a voice, as if from nowhere,
will cause potential lawbreakers to freeze in the act. With proper guidance from
Christ and with Satan's sinful influence restrained (Rev. 20:1-3), violence and crime
will be stamped out.

8. How successful will the priest-teachers be in teaching the knowledge of God's way
to the world? Jer. 31:34; Hab. 2:14; Isa. 11:9.

9. Will God do more than merely make knowledge available? Compare Isaiah 25:6-7 with
Isaiah 29:10-12 and Romans 11:7-9. (Notice the words “spread over all nations” in
Isaiah 25:7.)

COMMENT: “And in this mountain” – the government of God – He will make the Millennium
one great feast of rejoicing. The Feast of Tabernacles is the antitype!

God will destroy the covering of spiritual blindness that has hidden the truth from
all nations. No religious confusion will long exist because Satan will have been
restrained. Humans will then be teachable – their minds will be opened to God's revealed
truth.

People will begin to live God's way of love – the way of giving and outgoing concern
for others – the way of the true values – the way of peace, of happiness, of well-being,
of joy and, ultimately, spiritual salvation.

A World Free from Fear!

In the millennial world pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles, people will no longer
have the influences of Satan and the false glitter of “this present evil world” to
distract them from overcoming their human nature.

God's way will become the popular and broad way. It will be the way society will
be going. People will want to follow God's way of life because of the happiness and
joy they know it will bring.

Pressures in society that now urge people toward conformity with this present evil
world will then be changed to working toward conformity with God's standard, toward
overcoming human nature and building perfect, holy and righteous character.

1. When Christ has forcibly put down those who fill the earth with violence, will He
abolish the fear of war? Isa. 2:4. Will He do so by exercising supreme authority
to rebuke many nations? Same verse.

COMMENT: Imagine! Never again any destruction of the fruit of years of labor! No
more waste of human life! No young men drafted from their homes, their lives upset,
to have their minds warped with hate!

2. Will there be any reason to fear that Christ will be a tyrannical ruler? Ps. 72:1-4,
8, 12-14; Isa. 11:5. Will He make perfect decisions? Verses 2-3. Will the poor receive
righteous judgment from Him? Verse 4.

3. Will there be any fear of wild animals? Hos. 2:18, first part; Isa. 11:6-8; Ezek.
34:25. What about wars – will the weapons of war be abolished from the earth? Hos.
2:18, last part.

COMMENT: There will be worldwide peace and people will convert their weapons of war
into farming tools. The Millennium will be a time of peace that will extend even
to the animal world.

4. In the secure, rejuvenated world tomorrow, will it be said to the fearful: “Be strong,
fear not… God will… save you”? Isa. 35:4.

5. Will God liberate people from the fear of sickness and disease? Isa. 33:24; Jer.
30:17. Will the handicapped – both physically and mentally – be miraculously healed?
Isa. 35:3-6.

COMMENT: Education about true health and the miraculous healing of all sickness and
disease will mean radiant health for everyone in the world tomorrow!

6. Will there be fear of accidents in the Millennium? Notice the principle of personal
responsibility in Exodus 21:29, 33-34 and 22:6.

COMMENT: When God's law goes forth from Zion (Isa. 2:3), the principle of personal
responsibility will be taught worldwide. People will be concerned about the welfare
of others and will be their “brother's keeper”!

There will be few accidents. But if someone should occasionally be careless – and
God sometimes does allow an accident to teach a lesson – the miraculous healing power
of Christ will be ever available.

7. Will fear and worry exist in the cities of tomorrow? Or will they be filled with
radiantly happy families? Jer. 33:10-11; Zech. 8:4-5.

COMMENT: People will no longer be afraid of their neighbors. They won't have to worry
about living next door to someone who is mentally unbalanced, a pervert or a killer.
The old won't have to fear being attacked and brutally beaten by some juvenile delinquent
out looking for fun.

8. Will the fear of food shortages – a spectre that constantly haunts many areas of
the world today – be gone? Ezek. 34:26; Isa. 30:23-24; Amos 9:13; Jer. 31:12. Will
the old waste places be made fertile, and will beautiful forests spread in the Millennium?
Isa. 41:14-20; 35:1-2, 6-7.

COMMENT: Most of the earth's land surface will become productive during the millennial
age. Forests, agricultural areas and fish-filled lakes and streams will be found
all over the world, with no more polluted rivers or ravaged landscapes.

9. Confusion of languages is one of the major barriers to cooperation between peoples.
Will God give the whole world a pure language so all can serve Him with one accord?
Zeph. 3:9.

COMMENT: In the Millennium, Christ will usher in an era of worldwide literacy and
education through a pure language. People everywhere will speak, read and write that
same language.

10. What about the lack of confidence that plagues so many? Will those who really “know
the Lord” dwell with confidence? Ezek. 28:26.

COMMENT: Reeducation will take care of that. People won't be taught self-confidence,
but confidence in Christ dwelling in them through the Holy Spirit.

11. What kind of fear will remain? Isa. 59:19; Jer. 32:39-40.

COMMENT: This fear is not terror and misery, but the mature, sound-minded realization
that disobeying the laws God has set in motion for our good leads to nothing but wretchedness,
filth and deprivation.

The Feast of Tabernacles was given that we might learn to fear God always (Deut. 14:23).
People will fear to disobey God, a right kind of fear that most people do not have
in today's world.

Israel to Be God's Model Nation

At His return, Christ will deliver the remnant of the descendants of ancient Israel,
who will be made captive in the coming Great Tribulation. They will not be changed
to immortality at Christ's return, but rather restored to the Promised Land as physical
human beings.

David, who ruled as king over all the tribes of Israel during his mortal lifetime,
will be resurrected to immortality. And as God promised, David will once again become
Israel's king after God unites the modern-day descendants of ancient Israel.

1. Will the remnant of Israel that are alive at Christ's coming be eager to enter into
a “perpetual covenant” with Him? Jer. 50:4-5. Will Christ's blood cleanse all Israel
so that in living a converted, truly Christian life, this nation will reach the apex
of joy and gladness and material prosperity? Jer. 33:7-9.

COMMENT: The return from captivity of a very few – mostly from Judah and Levi – did
not fulfill the ultimate intent of this prophecy. They never attained great prosperity.
Nor did they even approach the degree of wealth Israel possessed under David and Solomon.
When this prophecy is fulfilled, "all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26)!

During the Millennium, God will bestow upon obedient Israel all of the great material
blessings He promised to give their ancestors had they obeyed (Lev. 26; Deut. 28).

The British nations and the United States – the modern-day descendants of Ephraim
and Manasseh – became the wealthiest and most powerful nations on earth in this end
time (because of Abraham's obedience to God). But their recent status among nations
is only a foretaste of even greater wealth and power (in God's service) to come once all of Israel is living in obedience
to the government of God.

2. Abraham's offspring were prophesied to become extremely numerous (Gen. 13:16).
Will Israel's population reach its zenith in the Millennium? Ezek. 36:10-11; Isa.
60:21-22. How does God describe this future explosive spread of Israelites into every
part of the globe? Isa. 27:6.

3. Will Israel inherit the whole earth? Isa. 54:2-4. Thus will all nations be blessed because of Abraham's “seed”? Gen.
28:14. But how? Isa. 61:9; 62:1-2, 7. Will the Gentiles therefore want to learn
God's way and become obedient to Christ? Isa. 2:1-3.

COMMENT: Israel was intended to be a blessing to the rest of the world both materially
and spiritually. The Gentiles, too, will be blessed as they follow Israel's outstanding
example of obedience to God! And they will also be blessed spiritually by becoming
Abraham's “seed” – spiritual Israelites – through Christ (Gal. 3:28-29), becoming
Spirit-begotten and finally Spirit-born into the very Family of God.

In the Millennium, the 12 tribes of Israel will for the first time become God's model nation – the leaders all nations will want to follow!

The Marriage of the Lamb

Let's now notice some interesting parallels that can be drawn between the Feast of
Tabernacles and the coming “marriage supper” of Jesus Christ and His Spirit-born Church.

1. Will the marriage of the Lamb occur after Jesus Christ's return? Rev. 19:6-7.
Will it be an occasion of great rejoicing? Same verses.

COMMENT: Notice how Christ's marriage is a time for great rejoicing after the war,
darkness and trouble that will occur before Christ's return, pictured by the Feast
of Trumpets!

2. In biblical pattern, how long does a marriage feast last? Judg. 14:2, 10, 12.
Does the Feast of Tabernacles span the same length of time? Lev. 23:34.

COMMENT: The seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles are like the seven days of the
ancient marriage feast and are a type of the marriage of Christ and His Bride the
Church.

3. Like a wife bound to obey her husband as long as he lives, will the Bride of Christ
obey Him forever? I Cor. 7:39; Eph. 5:22-27, 32. Did Nehemiah read the law to the
people every day of the Feast of Tabernacles? Compare Nehemiah 8:18 with Deuteronomy
31:10-11.

COMMENT: Those who in the Millennium will be added to the Bride of Christ must learn
God's law in their life – and learn it well – so they can teach it to others in the
world tomorrow.

4. Does Christ emphasize in the New Testament the necessity of an inner change, brought
about by the Holy Spirit, to enable one to be ready for the marriage of the Lamb?
Matt. 25:6-10.

5. Did ancient Israel, during the days of Moses, have the heart to fear and obey God?
Deut. 5:29; 29:4. But when they receive the Holy Spirit, will it enable them to obey?
Jer. 32:39-40.

COMMENT: The Sinaitic Covenant was a marriage agreement (Jer. 31:32). When Israel
persistently broke the terms of the agreement – committed spiritual adultery – her
sins divorced her from the One who later became Jesus Christ (Jer. 3:8, 14; 31:32;
Isa. 59:2).

God's true Church is composed of spiritually minded Israelites. A Gentile-born person
can enter God's Church only by becoming a spiritual Israelite (Eph. 2:11-18; Rom.
4:16; 9:4-5; John 4:22).

Christ will not marry another. He will remarry Israel – an Israel that is immortal
and spiritual, not carnal, as at Sinai. Note that the Bride is –before the marriage
– called His “wife” (Rev. 19:7) in the sense that it is Israel again, only this time
converted, righteous and spiritual.

Christ, the Lamb, is spirit. His wife must also become spirit, if it is to be a lasting
congenial marriage. She will be a reborn, purified and cleansed Israel (II Cor. 11:2),
who will have “made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).

Spiritual Israel will be the rulers of the fleshly nation Israel. Israelites of the
flesh who become qualified, as well as Gentiles, will be added to God's ruling Family
throughout the Millennium as they are born again.

The entire 54th chapter of Isaiah describes spiritual Israel remarried to Christ,
in contrast with the physical nation of Israel during the preceding 3,500 years.
Notice especially the first six verses. The Church has been desolate – the truly converted
few – until the making of the New Covenant, a marriage covenant. But fleshly Israel
never multiplied as fast as the Church of converted Israel will multiply during the
Millennium.

The God Family is preparing for the greater things still in the future. The Millennium
is only the beginning of eternity – of happiness, accomplishment and joy that will
last forever

The Meaning of Booths

The Feast of Tabernacles, besides being called the Feast of Ingathering, is sometimes
called the Feast of Booths. That is because during the seven days of the Feast, the
ancient Israelites were to live in booths. Let's understand the significance of dwelling
in booths and what it means for God's people today.

1. Were God's people to live in booths – that is, temporary dwellings – during the
Feast of Tabernacles? Lev. 23:42. What is a booth? Verse 40.

COMMENT: A booth or tabernacle is a temporary dwelling. God commanded the ancient Israelites to live in temporary
shelters made of tree branches while observing the Feast of Tabernacles. For God's
people who attend the Feast today in many different climates, tents, campers, motel
or hotel rooms are appointed as temporary dwellings.

2. Was this manner of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles to be a continual reminder of
Israel's 40-year sojourn in the wilderness? Verses 42-43. Why? Was it because Israel
lived in temporary dwellings during that time? Verse 43.

COMMENT: During their 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites had no permanent
dwellings. They were merely heirs to the land God had promised to give them – they were not yet inheritors.

3. Were Israel's years of wandering in Sinai meant to be only a temporary state of
affairs? Deut. 8:2. Was it to last only until the rebellious generation was dead?
Num. 14:29, 33-34.

COMMENT: The rebellious generation in the wilderness is a type of all carnal, rebellious
people. And the temporary dwellings typify the fact that humans even in the 1,000
years will be mortal, and that human life and society throughout the Millennium will
be only temporary. What is permanent is eternal life,

4. Did the Israelites' forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also live in temporary
dwellings as heirs, but not yet inheritors? Heb. 11:9, 13.

COMMENT: “Sojourn” is “a temporary stay.” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were strangers
or aliens in the Promised Land, living in a temporary fashion all their days. They
did not then receive the inheritance God had promised to give them.

Their dwelling in “tabernacles” (booths) pictured that they were yet only heirs –
not yet inheritors – of eternal life in God's Kingdom and eternal possession of the
land.

5. Are true Christians today “strangers and pilgrims” in this physical life? I Pet.
2:11.

COMMENT: Like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God's Spirit-begotten children are in the wilderness of this world, but are not of it (John 17:11, 14). They are separate from the world (Rev, 18:4) – heirs, but not
yet inheritors, of their permanent dwelling place, the promised Kingdom of God!

6. Did Peter, near the end of his life, compare his physical body to a temporary “tabernacle”?
II Pet. 1:14.

COMMENT: As mortal beings, made of the dust of the ground, humans are destined to
die. Only by receiving God's Spirit can a person hope to live forever.

But Spirit-begotten Christians have the hope of eternal life abiding in them (I John
5:11). Their physical bodies – with all their imperfections, their natural desires,
their weaknesses, aches and pains – are meant to last only long enough for them to
learn to serve God in this life.

By staying in temporary dwellings each year during the Feast of Tabernacles, God's
people are reminded of this important knowledge. They understand that this physical
life is only temporary – that they are merely pilgrims in this present life, waiting to inherit the Kingdom
of God!

With all this in mind, let's now draw several further analogies, comparing Israel's
40 years of wandering with the coming Millennium.

Just as ancient Israel, after escaping from Pharaoh – a type of Satan – was given
in the wilderness a temporary period of comparative isolation from Satan's influence,
so will the whole world enter 1,000 years of rest from Satan's rule. During that
40 years Israel was welded into a nation organized under God's government. During
the Millennium, the whole world will be similarly organized under God's government.

Forty is the number of trial and test. (See in any Bible concordance how often God's
people were tested for 40 days or 40 years.) Israel in the wilderness was a type
of all people who will go through trials and tests in overcoming their human nature,
even during the Millennium.

7. How will God draw the 1,000-year period of testing to a close? Rev. 20:3, 7-9.

8. Will a condition of permanency finally be reached in the plan revealed in God's
Holy Days of the seventh month? I Kings 8:2.

9. After Christ returns and establishes the rule of the Kingdom of God on earth, will
God's Kingdom and government continue to expand? Isa. 9:7. Also notice Matthew 13:33.

COMMENT: The government of God, like leaven in a lump of dough, will gradually spread
throughout the whole earth in the Millennium. Eventually thousands of millions will
be spiritually converted. The great harvest of humans, pictured by the autumn harvest
in the Holy Land, will be gathered into the Kingdom of God – born again as divine
members of the ruling Family of God during the Millennium.

By the end of the 1,000 years, the Family of God will be ready for the final step
in God's Master Plan of salvation.

How God's People Keep the Feast Now

1. Will Jerusalem again be chosen as the center of worship in the Millennium? Zech.
2:12. Is Jerusalem not now the primary place for all people to keep the Feast of
Tabernacles? John 4:21.

COMMENT: Jerusalem was rejected in the autumn of A.D. 66 and turned over to the Romans.
God withdrew His name. But in the Millennium Jerusalem will again be the place where
God's people will keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

2. Does God intend for His people to be free from this world's system and its ways?
Rev. 18:4; II Cor. 6:14-18. Also notice Exodus 10:7 and 15:1, last part.

COMMENT: God intends the Feast of Tabernacles to separate and free His people from
the world and its evil influences. This great festival gives them a special time
and setting, in which they are free from the routine cares of the world, to think
more about God's purpose for life and how to attain it.

Living in temporary dwellings for an entire week – away from their everyday surroundings,
jobs and most negative influences – God's people picture by their observance of these seven days the universal freedom and peace that will
exist when Satan is gone and the Spirit of God is available to every human (Joel 2:28,
32).

3. Is the Feast of Tabernacles a time of rejoicing for the entire family? Deut. 12:5,
7, 12; 16:13-14.

COMMENT: Tens of thousands of God's people and their families enthusiastically look
forward annually to observing the Feast at dozens of sites around the world. It is
the highlight of the entire year!

These are days of continuous, genuine Christian fellowship. Members and their families
participate in various exciting, fun-filled Church-sponsored activities, as well as
sight-seeing and other special attractions unique to each site. The sincere concern
and fellowship, the spiritual nourishment and just plain good fun whets one's appetite
for the next year's Feast, making the ordinary “vacations” of the past seem humdrum
by comparison!

But just as the Feast of Tabernacles is a physical feast filled with rejoicing, it
is also a spiritual feast of education and preparation. Members of God's Church receive instruction
from God's ministers through inspiring sermons to help them further prepare to rule
and teach with Christ during the Millennium.

God's people at the Feast demonstrate now, by the way they live together in harmony, what this entire world could be like if everyone followed God's laws!

If you have not already read it, our free book The Wonderful World Tomorrow – What It Will Be Like provides additional understanding. Why not write for it?